Beginning in 2005, The African Queen and I enjoyed Section 320 at RFK Stadium. Our Washington Nationals and the Nats320 Blog came to life for us there. Since 2008-we've sat in Section 218 at Nationals Park, but our blog name has not changed. Our roots are in Nats320-and we will never forget those good times. But, as always, we will attempt to provide fun, information and commentary about Our Washington Nationals. All photos, unless otherwise attributed-COPYRIGHT Nats320--ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

"When I had Season Tickets with my guys (for The Baltimore Orioles Games at Camden Yards)—I remember saying: ‘If there is ever a team in Washington, we are giving up on The Orioles. We are going to get Nationals (or whatever the team’s name will become) tickets, because we knew any new team would play their first few seasons at RFK Stadium—regardless whether the team ended up in Northern Virginia or DC. All we would have to do was jump on the Metro and head over. I couldn’t wait for that to happen."

Like many other Washingtonians--John Odell couldn't wait for The Return of Baseball to Washington, DC. Unfortunately, he never experienced that sensation in person--as in 1999--after 12 years as The Curator for The United States Senate on Capitol Hill--Mr. Odell accepted a new job--one that involved his passion for The Game of Baseball. John Odell was moving on to Cooperstown, New York, as the newly named Curator of Research and History for The National Baseball Hall of Fame.

"I loved living in DC--it's just a great place. I have many fond memories living there and when I heard that you and Sohna were heading up here--I just had to help you out."

During our recent visit to The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, John Odell became our confidant in baseball's rich history. With passion, he gave The African Queen and I a thorough understanding of how The Hall operates. From our Special Tour, to The A. Bartlett Giamatti Library, to Researching Washington Baseball History--Mr. Odell was the centerpoint making everything move smoothly. And when all our work was done--he still had time to sit down for the formal Nats320 Interview.

Sitting inside the media room of The Library--Sohna, John and I discussed at length The National Baseball Hall of Fame. A good thorough review of its mission. Over the next few days--this 80 Minute interview will playout on Nats320. As always, word for word--in its entirety.

With that--here we go:

As a curator, what do you do at The Baseball Hall of Fame? (SBF)

“Officially, I am the Curator of History and Research and my job is to help create and decide what stories we want to tell at The Hall of Fame. Then, through the research, we decide how we want to represent those stories and then look into our artifact collections to see what artifacts we have. And then research the artifacts, so we can see the links between the stories we want to tell with those artifacts. We tweak the story at times, if it helps to present the artifacts. But, we want to make sure we tell the right story, in the right way, accurately and effectively. And the great thing about artifacts, is that if you have the right artifacts, it really helps to present your story in the way you want it to be.”

“People always respond to stories, that is a natural human condition. To the extent that we can provide a link, between our baseball fans who are coming to The Hall of Fame and the great sport of baseball—The National Pastime. When we do that well, we’ve hit it off. But, that is my job, to make sure your visits, baseball fan's visits to Cooperstown are interesting, exciting and hopefully an insightful one.”

With all the stories of baseball, throughout history, that has got to be a difficult task to find the best tales and keep it fresh? (SBF)

“It is tough. It’s tough for a lot of different reasons and that is not unique to our museum. The more you understand about your topic, hopefully the more likely you will be able to figure out—‘Oh, there are a lot of different ways to approach it’—that would resonate with your visitor. So, OK, then you say, what are the topics and subjects you would like to discover. In a museum, it’s always a zero sum game. You only have “X” number of square feet to tell your story. And, when you are going from one temporary exhibit to another, you are losing a story in the temporary exhibit. When you are carving out a space to tell a permanent exhibit, then there is less space, by definition, for other permanent exhibits. So, you are losing that opportunity. That is probably the most difficult thing, to figure out what stays and what goes. There are a lot of great stories in baseball. There are a lot of interesting stories in baseball. Which ones are so much better than others that you can say—‘I Like It!!’—But I can’t tell it. We are just not going to be able to deal with it, because of this other exhibit—which is so much more important and so much more significant. Or, tells a so much better story.”

“Those are some of the decisions I make along with my boss, who is The Chief Curator of The Hall of Fame—Ted Spencer, with The President of The Hall of Fame--Dale Petroskey, and with other branches here of the organization. We work with PR. We work with Development. It’s all to figure out where we want to go with story telling within the museum.”

There are so many items here; I believe you told us over 34,000 (approximately) artifacts are in the possession of The Baseball Hall of Fame. And at any given time, maybe 10% of those items are actually on display. What percentage has never been on display? (SBF)

“That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer to that. Certainly, quite a number--but I am sure we have never looked to see. Also, the records before say—1980—were never kept track of—whether they were put on display and came off. So, an artifact may have gone on display, but I wouldn’t have any record of it being on display—or in what exhibit it might have been in. So, I can’t tell.”

“Certainly, I would bet, considering the number of items we have, how we move through them, if somebody said one-third of the artifacts had never been put on display—I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe as many as half—have never been on display. This is one of the tough things about figuring out whether some artifact has been on display. Let's say, if we got a uniform from Joe Somebody—and he gives us his cap, jersey, pants and stirrups. And then, we put his jersey on exhibit. That means his cap; pants and stirrups did not go on exhibit. We may have also received his undershirt (laughing). That’s five or six artifacts—whether you consider the stirrups one or two. When you are trying to parcel down to the significance of what has happened—you can get into a quagmire over what has, and has not, gone on display. Its just not worth worrying over.”

That being said, what is important to gather today that is important for The Baseball Hall of Fame as the retainer of history? (SBF)

“We are very much interested in gathering, first of all, with documenting the game on the field. That’s the first thing we need to do. If we don’t do that as The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, we are not doing are job. We have to begin with the game on the field. So, records, milestones, great achievements, unusual events—we want to make sure we get those items.”

“Secondarily, as a baseball museum—if there are new styles of something—we work to get that. An example of that might be the new Cool-Max Batting Helmets, which we want to pick up at some point. But, we are not just going to call up a team and say: ‘Hey, can you send up one of those new Cool-Max Helmets, because we don’t have any?’ No, we will wait until somebody, you know, is going to get their 3,000th hit with it, or have four home runs in a game, have their 400th or 500th Home Run with it. That will give us an opportunity at that point to say, hey—let’s put that on our list of needs to get. This is how we factor in picking up new items at the next opportunity that comes along--that is how we acquire the technological developments of the game. We are not simply focused on the first time something is used, which is much less significant, than something being used and continually used.”

(Internet Photo)

“We have learned about the INSIGNIFICANCE of firsts. Such as, when we read about the first night game of baseball. We found any number of first night games of baseball (all of us chuckling), even in the 19th Century. The first night game is when someone strung up some light bulbs on a rope around the infield. The guys played, but they couldn't see the ball, because on the very first pop up—no one could see the baseball. So, that was one time. Then, 10 years later, someone else tries in a fluke, or a stunt type of situation—as firsts often are in baseball."

(Internet Photo)"Somebody later on says—you know, it’s not a bad idea—but there is a lot of bad execution of good ideas. So somebody else says—‘What would happen if we could put lights up high on stands?’—Like The Kansas City Monarchs did—'and, we just drive them (the lights) around from field to field. When we stop for a ball game, we put the lights up and have a night game. All the poor guys who have to work for a living and can’t watch day games in order to put food on the table, can now come in the evening and see a baseball game.’ So, there another example of a possible first."

(Courtesy Baseball Hall of Fame--"Baseball As America" website)

“Then, somebody else says they are going to be the first to play under PERMANENT Lights. So, they put up their lights. Only to find out, someone else, a week before was the first team to have permanent lights—but they forgot to invite the press (all of us laughing). Of course—you then find three lines buried in The Sporting News that “Whahammish” played a night game under permanent lights and this was the first in the league. Finally, The Majors come through. Of course—if The Majors have done it first—then NO ONE ELSE has accomplished the feat before hand (being facetious—everyone busting out laughing). That’s how we learn about these events. So, 40 Years after we learned baseball was first played under lights—Cincinnati can say: ‘we were the first place anyone played baseball under lights (chuckling).’ First events are less significant, for the most part—when it comes to technology.”

“Now, when something is ongoing that you as an ordinary fan experiences—we say: ‘Let’s see if we can document this, as a first.’ Once that first is established, providing we can get a first, that's kind of neat. These sort of things sometimes tend to fall into your lap.”

Going back farther in history, how more difficult is it to document as more years pass? (SBF)

“Its actually getting easier (really? —SBF), believe it or not. It is getting easier because more and more full text documents are being scanned in and placed in as electronic files on the Internet. Where it use to be that if you wanted to search for something, and we don’t have a lot of money, we don’t have Lexus-Nexus, the really high powered research tools—if we just wanted to find out what The New York Times said about something happening in say 1924 with The Yankees—it use to involve getting the microfiche or the film—and then reading day, after day, after day—only to find out it happened in ’23!! (Chuckling). And, you didn’t know that. Now, there are a lot of online search engines, or going directly to The New York Times—key in: Gehrig, Start, Game & Pipp—immediately you start finding stories about when Wally Pipp was actually pulled and did not start in a game, and Gehrig started in his place. It enables us to find the entire story surrounding that moment, and not just the myth you heard growing up—that’s a great thing for us. We are more and more able, and faster, to find out from an historical perspective—what the newspapers reported at that time. Sure, the newspapers may get it wrong—but at least we know what was said and written at the time. We can then compare those articles to what the story is today. And after generations of playing telephone with one another, father telling stories to sons, sports writers telling stories to sports readers, we can go back and say: ‘OK—here is where the idea came from, the genesis, and how the story developed at that time.’ Basically, its easier now to go back and find out about that day as reported. Then, using our secondary resources, we can do comparative analyst on the topic.”

“All of us as curators and researchers are standing on the shoulders of all those writers and researchers who did the work before us—and they were on the shoulders of those before them. But now, we have some unique tools we did not have even 10 years ago. We can know measure and test these stories and ideas against what really happened. This has all made us—located in Central New York—a little less parochial, a little less isolated than just a short time in the past.”

Whether it’s Trevor Hoffman for the Saves Record, or Barry Bonds for the Home Run Record, those events are destined to happen and The Hall will follow those moments and collect artifacts to preserve that mark. (Yes, absolutely—John). But, what causes a buzz here? What gets everyone in The Museum all excited about? (SBF)

“Here's a good example. In Pittsfield, Massachusetts—a fellow named John Thorn was doing research and came across a town ordinance that dates from 1791. The ordinance reads essentially—no baseball playing 80 yards from The Town Hall. A couple of things are clear. One is that this baseball thing is popular enough that you have to write a law about it (all of us laughing—John smiling). So, Don’t Play It Anymore!! And, why would you not be able to play it? In my mind, I can only imagine young boys and young men playing the game and putting a ball through the window!! That’s the classic. Or, hitting some poor old lady trying to get into court to get her widow’s pension (chuckling)--something like that—from The Revolutionary War (all of us busting out laughing). I don’t know what prompted it, but baseball was listed among a number of things they (Pittsfield) didn’t want people to do around the court house building.”

“That caused a buzz, the finding of that ordinance moves the story forward, or in this case backwards."

Does that actual ordinance now exist here at The Hall of Fame? (SBF)

“No, but we do have copies of it. That’s fine. We don’t have to have the original here. It would be nice for them (Pittsfield) to do so, but Pittsfield saw that as an important part of their historical record—and that’s fine. You guys can keep that, but can we have a copy? 'Oh sure—we want you to have a copy—in fact you guys NEED to have a copy!!'"

“One of the nice things too is that since I have been here, it’s been increasingly clear—and let’s use this (Ordinance) as an example. Cooperstown is the home of baseball. The Baseball Hall of Fame is here because a report at the turn of The Century (19th-20th) called The Mills Commission, determined that Cooperstown was where baseball was invented in 1839. Now, we know today that is not the case. History shows baseball was not invented on a particular day. Baseball was not full born like Zena from Zeus. Its developed over time and changed a great deal over the whole course of the 19th Century.”

“We know that (Cooperstown As First Baseball Town) is not how it happened. We are also glad others found that was not the case after the turn of the 20th Century because it meant that just a few years later—The Baseball Hall of Fame was created—right here in Cooperstown—because a few folks in town said—‘Hey, remember that report that came out a few years ago about baseball. Let’s build a museum related to baseball (Sohna and I chuckling over his expressions). Folks will come here, they will spend a quarter to go to the museum, spend money in our restaurants and hotels—and have good time.’”

Sohna says: Its like the town has become the custodian of the game.

“Yes, that’s exactly right. It really has. The town has really taken on that responsibility to be the hometown of baseball. Now, when somebody says Cooperstown when you are at a ballpark, everyone knows exactly what he or she is talking about. You are talking about a player who belongs there, or the history of the game, or a moment. We are the spiritual home of baseball. We are not going anywhere else. Remember, the game we are most familiar with now—you would have most likely first seen in New York City, than any place else. Probably not a rural game. Most likely, the game stemmed out from the city. And coming out of the city, it arrived here in Cooperstown. Somebody came up here and said: ‘I want to show you the latest game they are playing down in the city.’ It’s a lot like today: ‘I want to see the clothes they are wearing down in the city. I want to bring you the music they are playing down in the city.”

"And what we think happened—to complete thought—the person who said baseball was invented here in Cooperstown in 1839—was a gentleman named Abner Graves—who said he was there when Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown. What we think he saw was this game that was being played down in the city and was being moved up here. Graves was 5 years old when this all took place. So, if you see someone who is 17 Years Old showing everybody a new game—you are seeing someone invent it in your own mind’s eye. While the 17 Year Old was saying: ‘I was just down in the city and you guys would not believe this great game they are playing.’ End result—you go from town ball (New York City) being played on a square to baseball where you are playing on a diamond (Cooperstown). Basically, it’s the turning of the field 45 Degrees—one of the basic differences between baseball and town ball. Also, foul balls instead of no foul territory. Once you make that switch—you have baseball instead of town ball.”

Going back to the permanent displays at The Hall—how much of the game is actually covered in The Museum? (The African Queen)“I think you are talking about the timeline of history that runs through the 2nd Floor. (Yes—AQ). We cover the history of baseball, sort of, by dynasties; the great teams and extends up to (the year) 2000. That area stays pretty static, year after year after year. We may move an item in and out. We just completed a major $20 Million renovation here at The Hall of Fame. And one of the things we intend to do is to totally revamp that area. In the meantime, what we did do was freshen it up a little bit. We had acquired some artifacts over the years—allowing us to switch some things in and out. At one time, we use to have white lettering on the glass, which when you have a white jersey behind them, is really tough to read. It looked very pretty in the architects drawings, but it did not work very well.”

"But, that (2nd Floor) is about half of our exhibit space. Probably a little more than half our artifacts are in that area. But, that is space where displays remain the most constant, like the Babe Ruth Room. Because—not a lot of people are giving us fresh Babe Ruth stuff (all of us chuckling). The Babe Ruth things we are offered—are harder and harder to document and verify as being authentic Babe Ruth Artifacts. Obviously, verification is a very important part of what we do.”

And that's where we will pick up tomorrow with Part Two of Chatting with John Odell--Curator of Research and History at The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. The Sports Memorabilia Market boomed over the past 25 years. The Hall of Fame had to make a crucial decision on how it would acquire further artifacts. Mr. Odell discusses the topic--in detail.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Dead of Winter, Mid-January, Snow all over the place—what a better time to visit Upper State New York. And no, The African Queen and I were not going skiing. We were heading to Cooperstown, New York to visit The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Sohna had never been there and I have not returned to Baseball’s Shrine for some time. Scheduling was tight. Honestly, since the end of the 2007 Baseball Season, we have had little free time. Overloaded, is the only way to describe our work schedules.Then, out of nowhere—a five day window appeared. January 14th through January 18th, 2008 was in the clear. Nothing. No work, no commitments—we were not obligated to be ANYWHERE for an entire weekday. WHY NOT GO TO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME? No one would be there. The weather is cold. Spring Training is still a good month away. I needed a baseball fix.

But, I had to ask The African Queen.

Pitching this opportunity to visit The Hall, Sohna (THANKFULLY) responded positively. After sitting in Section 320 for the past three seasons--enjoying and learning Baseball from all our many friends—The African Queen had graduated from RFK Stadium with her "B of B"--Bachelors of Baseball with Honors--this past October. Now, with New Nationals Park on the horizon—this was her BIG CHANCE to begin Post Graduate School. YES!! She was excited to go. Guys--Come On--SHE WANTED TO GO!! What's not to love about that!!

Besides, this fact made the trip even more intriguing. One of the most famous Bed & Breakfast Inns in America-The Cooper Inn--was completely wide open. The African Queen and I would not only have the largest and most elegant room--but the run of the house for our entire stay. SWEET!!

But, before we left from Alexandria, Virginia—there was one more detail to be worked out. Not only did we wish to visit The Hall of Fame, we wanted to experience it--fully. No better way then to actually do some real work while in Cooperstown—discovering The Museum’s archived History of Washington, DC Baseball—for The Nats320 Blog.

Brad Horn, The Director of Communications for The National Baseball Hall of Fame, wholeheartedly, supported the idea. Mr. Horn agreed to set up a Curator in Cooperstown to discuss The Hall, its History and Washington, DC as a baseball town. Also, we would be granted access to The A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Library for discovery purposes.

Brad Horn is a man of his word. Because, over our five days in Upper State New York, John Odell--Curator of History & Research at The Hall--willingly accepted the assignment to become our ears, our eyes, our guide, and by the end of this fabulous week--new found friend. John Odell went out of his way for us—as did many others we ran across in The Hall and Cooperstown, New York--just a few short weeks ago. Not knowing what to expect heading out--Sohna and I eventually returned home--fulfilled, satisfied and down right overjoyed at the many experiences shared.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum--treated us with style and grace. We observed, listened and studied everything which came our way. An adventure transpired--nothing short of magnificent. So impressed with the response, the very least we could do was thank everyone by joining The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum--as Members--Sustaining Members--not just for the introductory fees. A thank you we vow to maintain forever.

On Tuesday, January 15th—Sohna and I first met with John Odell at 9:15AM among The Hall of Fame Plaques for introductions. Then, we were left on our own to discover the many displays on the three museum floors--to get a feel of the place. At 11:15AM, we regrouped at the Giamatti Library to begin our inside look. John produced lists of Washington DC Baseball Artifacts that are in The Hall’s Collection. Many of which appeared at The Smithsonian Natural History Museum in 2004, during the museum's "Baseball As America" Tour. An event that I recall viewing fondly one afternoon in September, 2004, just one month before Our Washington Nationals were officially announced as moving to The Nation's Capital. Ideas were shared--thoughts passed--on what exactly Sohna and I hoped to accomplish during our week in Cooperstown.

Then, The Adventure in Learning began. All three of us headed upstairs to the clip files. Saved records and newspaper articles of EVERY SINGLE PLAYER that has ever played Major League Game. "If that person played in just ONE Major League Game--we have a file on him," said John Odell. Of course--knowing Frank Howard is MY FAVORITE PLAYER OF ALL TIME!!--John pulled out "Hondo's" file for review. It was large--but "The Capital Punisher" was no measure for Walter Johnson. Washington's ALL TIME GREATEST PLAYER, and Original Hall of Famer had not only files--but Four Bins worth--recycle size bins. File after File, all in alphabetical order of Major League Baseball's entire player compliment.

Impressive.

None more so--than when I mentioned to John that my cousin played Major League Baseball for a few seasons in the early 1950's and later became a Pacific Coast League Manager. Without hesitation: "Let's go find his file!!"--Mr. Odell found and copied my relatives ENTIRE FILE as a keepsake. As large as it was--which wasn't much--five copied pages covered the gamut. You see, my cousin had his cup of coffee in the majors--then just a little bit more.

But no that was not all--this journey was just beginning--on to another level and the bookshelves. "No--we don't have every single book ever published about baseball," stated John. "Hundreds of new titles are made each year--we would never have enough space, if we did. We pick those that are important to the game and our cause (here at The Hall) to document its history." The book collection is so large, John explained that many others are stored off site--in a separate facility. Among these Book Stacks, Sohna and I first noticed The Halls handling of storage. Rotating Racks that move via rails and wheels. A simple rotation of a wheel in front of each stack--allowed for easy movement and access. Each book given its very own reference number for quick retrieval by staff. Remember, The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is not The Library of Congress, or The Smithsonian Museums with their plethora of buildings and storage space.

While John Odell played the terrific host, Sohna and I savored the knowledge being consumed. He answered our many questions and loved the back and forth conversation occurring. The African Queen, who really had little understanding of Baseball's Rich History as America's Game, was immersing herself in all her newly gained knowledge. She was having a wonderful time, asking questions--soaking it all in. Of course, as always, we took pictures at each stop.

Next up on the excursion came the climate controlled rooms. Photos--Thousands of Images. Humidity, Temperature, Lighting--all controlled to preserve baseball's pictorial history. This area is artificially cold --but warm in nature--as in each and every file the intimacy and joy of "THE GREAT GAME" comes to life. Whether its "Hondo" swinging his bat, Walter Johnson winding up to throw his heater; Or, long time Washington Senators Owner Clark Griffith sitting at his desk at Griffith Stadium in NE Washington--The Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum's Photo Files has to be unmatched. Where else could you possibly witness the Entire History of America's Greatest Game--in one facility. From some of the very first moments of baseball's beginnings--to this very day--Baseball's Yesterdays and Todays--Live in Photo Prints/Glass Negatives/Celluloid's at The Hall. The museum may not have everything--but if you couldn't figure out the popularity of the game in pictures here--you are lost.

As nice as that moment was it could not parallel the thrill of what followed. If "Saving Your Best For Last" is true, then John Odell smashed a game winning Grand Slam when he escorted Sohna and I down to the lower levels of The Museum--well behind the scenes--to The Artifact Storage Room. This Treasure Trove of Baseball Memorabilia was right before our very eyes. As a student of the game and its history--this moment was one to cherish--for years to come. But, before we could even enter--we had to sign in. Getting into this room may well be more difficult than retrieving gold bullion at Fort Knox. And, Mr. Odell needed to sign for a special pass key. No, the public is not normally invited here. This Climate Controlled Room was loaded with vestiges of Baseball's Finest Moments, Great Players, Uniforms and Equipment. Right away, John needed to put on white gloves. "The handling of these items is very delicate," exclaimed John. "Just touching can ruin a jersey over time. The oils and dirt of the skin can penetrate and harm. The White Gloves allow for handling-- ever so delicately."

This massive room was filled with even larger Storage Stacks on rails and wheels. In plain view were a series of items that had just been returned on carts from display or photo opportunities at The Hall. Included was a Connie Mack Desk Set from The Philadelphia A's. A Series of Bats--including Del Unser from The Washington Senators (all of us attempting to guess the significance of some--like Rennie Stennett's bat?). Various Baseball Caps, Ichiro and Cal Ripken Jerseys.

But, what stood out CLEARLY was one particular cart. On top sat a vintage New York Yankees classic Pinstripe Jersey with interlocking NY. A Babe Ruth Jersey. Old Number 3--which John carefully showed us. Also, The Babe's personal bat--with engraved signature. Just to the right of Ruth's Items, were Lou Gehrig's Baseball Cleats and a very old, almost laughable first baseman's glove. But, this glove was no joke. This lefthanded mitt was Lou Gehrig's Columbia University Glove.

Even Sohna understood the importance of what we were viewing.

Before we arrived in Artifact Storage, John Odell was decent enough to ask the artifact folks to put on display some vintage gloves. Check out some of these pictures. Each categorized and numbered. This particular catcher's mitt shows why so many that played behind the plate broke their fingers. As John explained: "You had to use two hands--the baseball could only stop in one spot--the catcher had to trap it." The gloves really took Sohna by surprise. She has only seen the modern gloves. To view relics from years past with no padding--was fascinating--for not only her--but me as well. (SBF then asking John)" So, why do you have a Sadaharu Oh Glove from his record setting Home Run Game? Why not a bat or jersey?" John responded: "Well, that's a question you have to shake your head about." We all laughed.

Racks and Racks of Uniforms, Caps, Gloves, some Artwork, were in specially made archival gray acid free boxes wrapped with protective acid free paper inside, away from light. And then, in the far back of this storage area, came the baseball bats. John opened up a rather large cabinet. Included inside were rows, upon rows of famous baseball bats. Some pulled out for viewing included a Fred Lynn Model, Vintage Nap Lajoie Thick Handle Bat and a Special Ralph Kiner Silver Model.

I don't know about the old days, but why do so many bats break so easily now? asked Sohna. "Let me show you the balance of it all," replied John. Mr. Odell went on to explain how modern day bats have a thinner handle to increase bat speed through the strike zone--giving a batter power. And how in yesteryears--strength and power came from physical makeup and skill--not necessarily technology. Sohna nodded her head--in understanding.

Remember--everything that The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has in its collections--is donated. The Hall never purchases artifacts. Yet, every single person that has given an item to Cooperstown--has the rights to come see that item, or items--at most any time (except maybe on Hall Of Fame Weekend and other special occasions), along with his or her family members. This Artifact Room was a special treat. A highlight like no other.

For nearly three hours, John Odell graciously gave us his time, escorting Sohna and I around The Baseball Hall of Fame. From the Present Day Displays for 2007's Inductees--Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn, to the three floors of public displays; until we finally ended this wonderful odyssey looking over the plaques of Baseball's Greatest. What first started out as an outing to just visit The Hall Of Fame had turned into a pilgrimage discovering and learning more about, not only the great history, but the ambiance of the game. A rare opportunity had arisen--The African Queen and I were HONORED to be recipients of the knowledge.

A Baseball Fans Dream.

And, that was just the first of four full days in Cooperstown.

On the following Wednesday and Thursday--Sohna and I researched Washington Baseball History at The Bart Giamatti Research Library for some stories to be posted at a later date. The African Queen studied, viewed and read each and every display in the museum--when I was occupied in the library. If more than 30 people visited The Hall on any given day that week--we would be surprised. At times--we had ENTIRE FLOORS to ourselves.

Sohna swears when she was looking at some Negro League displays--she saw a reflection of someone walking behind her in the glass-- turned around and saw no one. Then, it happened once again--same spot. Only to turn around and see no one--once again. Calling out my name and getting no response--she got spooked--and moved to another floor of the museum.

Later, Howie--who works the Main Entrance to The Hall joked to us when I mentioned how we have the entire Hall to ourselves: "Now, Now--we must share. There are two other folks here--someplace." We all laughed.

A light turnout in attendance gave Sohna and I the special opportunity to take our time--view each and every display--read the details--ENJOY THE MOMENTS--TOGETHER. The Staff of The Baseball Hall of Fame got so use to us--we must have felt like family to them. They were FANTASTIC. Because from 9AM-5PM for three straight days and another 5 hours on Friday the 18th, we absorbed all The Hall had to offer.

Of course nothing would be right, until we conducted the Official Nats320 Interview. On Thursday of our great week, The African Queen and I sat down with John Odell for a formal interview--discussing everything about The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. How it operates, what are their goals--where is it going from here. Quite in depth--John spelled out the mission of The Hall.

So, over the next few days--A lengthy Interview with John Odell--Curator of Research & History at The Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. Then, while on site--Sohna and I snapped over 1000 photos, mostly covering the public displays. Floor by Floor--The Nats320 blog will attempt to recapture what we witnessed upon visiting Cooperstown on our special baseball history tour. No, this photo layout will not be complete--but it will be interesting. The Uniforms and Artifacts are TERRIFIC!!

Finally--at a later date--but before the beginning of the 2008 Regular Season--The History of Baseball in Washington, DC--as found at The Baseball Hall of Fame, along with a picture segment on DC's Historical Ballparks. Its going to be fun. Work which could not have been accomplished without John's great assistance, along with Tim Wiles (Director of Research) and Freddy Berowski at The Giamatti Library. Saying all three of these fine gentlemen were Helpful--is an understatement--Honestly.

Our Adventure In Learning is just being. Much, Much, More to come on this: Baseball Hall of Fame Week on The Nats320 blog.

PS--Sohna left Cooperstown with her Graduate Degree. What more can I possibly say.PSS--Oh yeah--did you know that "The Chief" is in The Baseball Hall of Fame? Yes, "The Most Thrilling Closer In The Game" has his Picture and Montreal Expos Cap on display in a special Washington Nationals Locker at The Hall. More on that in a later post. You can bet--The African Queen and I made a bee line to that exhibit to see Chad Cordero's artifacts.